Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – a look at the game’s features

The logo for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. (Provided by Blizzard Entertainment)

With the first expansion for Diablo III — Reaper of Souls — released Tuesday on the PC and Mac, we talked with lead game producer Alex Mayberry about the finer points of the game.

What it’s about
Act V takes place in the city of Westmarch — the capital of humanity. The story revolves around Malthael, the angel of wisdom, who had disappeared from heaven.

“With the demise of Diablo, Tyrael thinks it’s going to usher in the world of peace,” Mayberry said.

That is, until Malthael returns as the angel of death. With humans considered to be half angel, half demon, Malthael brings with him an army of reapers to destroy humanity.

“He sees humans as much a threat as demons,” Mayberry said. “… He believes (killing the humans) will end the war permanently between angels and demons.”

So what’s a hero to do? Go smash Malthael.

Adventure Mode
The new Adventure Mode allows players to explore the game in a sandbox environment.

“With adventure mode, we turned the gameplay on its ear. You’re no longer trapped in the story line,” Mayberry said.

Players can explore the world of Diablo III without having to follow any set pattern. Monsters throughout the different acts are scaled accordingly to the player’s character’s level.

Rather than simply following the story arc, players are given side missions to accomplish.

“You receive random bounties,” Mayberry said. “It asks you to kill an elite enemy or complete an event or find some treasure.”

With each successful mission, the player receives a rift key fragment. Five fragments open up a rift portal where players can explore multi-floored dungeon that has random floors. This means the levels can span from heaven to the oasis to cathedral.

With random levels come random monsters. Players will encounter enemies from all over the game in the dungeon beyond the rift.

Crusader Class

An artist’s rendition of the crusader class in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. (Provided by Blizzard Entertainment)

The Crusader, the latest class to be added to Diablo III, will be a mid-range melee tank. The character will wield a weapon and a shield, which also has a variety of attacks.

“He’s the cousin to the paladin,” Mayberry said. “He’s the special ops version of the paladin.”

Auction House closed
The Auction House is gone.

Blizzard shut down the Auction House on March 18 after deciding that it detracted from the core mission of the game: Kill monsters, find treasure.

“We wanted to incentivize players to play the game not going to the auction house to buy power,” Mayberry said.

In its place is the “Loot 2.0″ system, which aims to bring better balance to items found.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was released March 25 on the PC. The console versions will be released at a date to be determined.

A&E reporter John Wenzel has covered a variety of topics for The Denver Post over the years, including video games, comedy, music and the fine arts. He's been playing and loving video games since his dad brought home a sweet ColecoVision in 1983. Catch him on PSN as beardsandgum.

Hugh got his start writing for the Cheyenne and Woodmen Edition newspapers in Colorado Springs. In 2011 he moved to Denver where he has written for Denver Urban Spectrum and Colorado Community Media’s Wheat Ridge Transcript. Hugh joined The Denver Post in 2014 as an editorial assistant.

Bryan Moore joined The Denver Post sports department in 1997 and has worked in many phases of producing the daily sports section ever since, specifically focusing on coverage of the Denver Broncos, Colorado Rockies, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and college football and basketball.